First look: Tamil Murasu
When Sun TV and Suriyan FM deluge you with teaser ads, you know they are up to something. Sambhar Mafia had wondered as much and had predicted that it would be a newspaper, to which most of us mortals agreed. It wasn't Dinakaran, as we expected, however...
Tamil Murasu (or Tamizh Murasu) has been launched in usual Sun TV style. In fact, it is a great idea. Despite being a newspaper-doting city, Chennai lacks quality English eveningers. We could certainly do with one paper like Mid Day. Given the Tamilian's talent for gossip-mongering, such a paper would be a runaway hit! Tamil Murasu might not fill that gap, but Sun Network must be congratulated for concentrating on this space, rather than being an also-ran in a crowded morning paper space. It is certain to eat into the share of other papers like Maalai Malar and Makkal Kural. Here's my first look.
300 paise. 8 pages. Colour photos. DMK bias. These are some things one can easily observe, the last of these being an implicit assumption. A casual perusal reveals no great difference from the normal Tamil daily. For example, the headline screams Actor handed Rs. 5 lakh fraud cheque to Jayalalithaa. Who and why? No answers. Just some general write-up about tsunami, tax exemptions and the like. Politics, and a photo of Beyoncé Knowles and Naomi Campbell adorn page 2.
Chennai news on page 3 - the usual crime fare. More politics on pages 4 to 7. Some sports news, included more to cash in on the Sania mania on page 4, and tidbits from across the world (and raasi palan) on page 7 act as fillers. The publishers have splashed page 8 with photos, which will make you wonder why God didn't put you in the midst of beer-guzzling German women.
Overall verdict: Run-of-the-mill. Nachchunu illai!
Added at 20:40 on September 19, 2005:
SUN's website features the online edition of Tamil Murasu. Each page is an individual downloadable PDF file. They should consider a single PDF also.
posted by Vijay Krishna Narayanan | 9/18/2005 07:02:00 AM
13 Comments:
The tabloid format is something unique for Tamil newspapers. I guess over time they'll improve on quality....maintaining their anti-establishment stand.
I see this as a flank attack. Once they succeed in the eveninger space, they will then move to sprucing up Dinakaran.
Knowing the public's weakness for free gifts people are likely to fall prey to such stuff.
So irrespective of the quality they are likely to make an impact.
Yeah, you got this one bang on. Pretty ordinary fare.
coz I am not in Chn or maybe coz I am not following local TN news as avidly.. I never even knew this was coming up..
but from ur piece.. I think it is safe to assume there was no point in following this anyways!!
What's your comment on 'Deccan chronicle vandaachu..'?
A new entrant is always good news. And yes, the daily IS following the model of dishing out wat the public wants a-la Sun TV. Wat can we say, they have a great future ahead ! :)
Tamil murasu is a very good paper.the lay out is good and the concept is excellent it is worth every paisa
I some how managed to get a copy every shop i went to said it was sold out it is a excellent paper kalanidhi has done it again great work tamil murasu
Tamizh Murasu is very good I think it will give a run for money to other newspapers
Oh God, sploggers again!
3 comments on similar lines, posted in the space of 5 mins, from the same IP. If the commenter had wanted me to promote the paper, then s/he could have asked me to write in favour of it.
I HATE SPLOGGERS!
To top it all, the IP address belongs to Sun TV.
Bof, losers!
I had 3 similar comments in my blog as well.......all in a span of 5 minutes...using 3 different names....he has commented around the same time in your blog as well. all are anonymous comments.
good find vijay and kaps
Balaji
As it is Tamil Murasu is OK.
But they have to improve much the style of news.If it goes by the current style of news it will become another party news paper.
To make it universally readable it should feed general people.
Any it has come to market to become No 1. The entire credits goes to Sun Tv.
Anyway we have to see whether it will sustain times to go.
Post a Comment
<< Home